Well, it's 1:25 PM EST on November 12, 2018 and Facebook is down.  I'm getting a message that says:

Sorry, something went wrong.

We're working on it and we'll get it fixed as soon as we can.

Perhaps by the time I finish writing this blog post, it will be back up.  I mean, if it isn't, where will I post this blog?  How will other people know how I feel at this moment?  If I have feelings that I cannot share on the largest form of social media on the planet, did they really happen?

I know that this is a Nerd online store and this is my nerd blog. I love technology and, even as I write this, I have Facebook ads that are not selling my stuff to nerds around the world. Still, it is moments like this that I pause to reflect upon the dependency that this technology brings. Is social media really bringing us closer together or is it just creating an artificial, yet, addictive connection that helps us avoid feeling alone?  Is Facebook simply the aspartame to the sugar of reality?  How many people around the world had the same collective gasp of concern when they were confronted with this error message? How long before business advertising begins to suffer, friends begin to wonder how they will check up on each other, and bored people at bus stops will have to (gasp!) engage in conversation while they wait? Surely social media connects us, but what does it connect us to?

Oh wait, it's working.  Never mind, I have some cat videos to watch.